how to cut down a tree

[low_delta]

First you climb up and tie a rope to it.


Cut a notch in the base.




Tie the rope around another tree.




Cut through.


Keep pressure on the rope (pull sideways) to help guide the falling tree in the direction you want it to go.


Stay out of the way when it falls.


Cut all the little branches off, so they can be gathered and hauled away.


Cut the big limbs into sections.


Cut the trunk into sections. He cut down as far as he could, then rolled the log over and cut the rest of the way.


Haul and stack it all.


Take a photo.

Now I have to split it all.

My neighbor had to remove some dying ash trees. He got his uncle to bring them down. I helped gather and haul.

Comments

[ravenfeather.livejournal.com]

Damn... THAT is a lot of wood! Some of them would make really pretty tables or stools.

[low-delta.livejournal.com]

Three trees.

They would! I wish I had a way to slice them thinner. In the last photo, on the ground on the far left of the pile. That's the only one that's kinda thin. But not thin enough.

[ravenfeather.livejournal.com]

I have a slice of a pecan tree, that is about as thick as the one you pointed out, that I have carried around the US for 23 years for the same reason. I don't have a way to cut it thinner, and it is not even on one side. That piece on the far right, at the bottom is really pretty.

[low-delta.livejournal.com]

My mom requested I make her a table for outdoors, to put a potted plant on. This would be perfect.

Theoretically, I could do it with a chainsaw, but my saw isn't long enough to get through in one pass. Even with a long enough bar, it would require a lot of sanding to get it smooth.

A friend has a shop that probably has equipment big enough to smooth it out, but I'm not close enough with him anymore, to ask.

[ravenfeather.livejournal.com]

I hope you can find a way to make one, even if it is a smaller log. Log tables are pretty, and with a live edge, and an oil finish if under cover, or poly if not, it would be pretty.

[pondhopper.livejournal.com]

Emerald Ash Borer victims?

That'll keep you in firewood for a while.
:)

Could you maybe rent a chainsaw and cut them thinner if you wanted to make stuff like Raven suggests?

[low-delta.livejournal.com]

Yes, EAB.

Probably a lifetime. And he's got more trees that will have to come down.

Theoretically. But I'm not sure I could cut it straight enough.

[daphnep.livejournal.com]

Whoah, cool! It seems so neat and efficient, reduced to a photo series. There was a messy, dead, sprawling tree...then it folds down into a neat stack of wood.

[low-delta.livejournal.com]

Yeah, it looks so simple. It even looked simple when the guy did it. But he'd been doing it for decades. You get pretty efficient at something when you do it that long. It took us six hours to do three trees, including stacking the pieces and hauling off the brush.

[rivendweller.livejournal.com]

They did a good job with that tree. Sometimes the tree will have a heavy branch going out in a direction you don't want the tree to fall. Then you have to cut that branch off first. Otherwise, the tree will fall where that heavy branch takes it. Gravity. No rope would stop it from falling the wrong way then!

[low-delta.livejournal.com]

He tied the rope to a limb that was sticking out in a bad direction. So when we kept tension on the rope, it kinda spun the tree in the right direction.